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HUDDLE SCOOP: FAA EXTENSION INTO DECEMBER -- House Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman John Mica plans to introduce a bill today that would avoid another Federal Aviation Administration shutdown at least until December. While Mica was still working on the finer points late last night, his measure would handle providing retroactive pay to workers who were furloughed earlier this year.

MISSING: LORETTA SANCHEZ'S CAMPAIGN FUNDS -- John Bresnahan and I report that Rep. Loretta Sanchez's campaign account has been all but emptied. Sanchez is one of several California Democrats whose campaign accounts were overseen by treasurer Kinde Durkee, who was arrested last week in connection with allegations that she committeed fraud against a California assemblyman. "'What we’ve learned this week is that unfortunately, the amount in our reelect account is substantially less than the amount we’ve raised this year, as well as the amount reflected in the records sent to us by Durkee & Associates. In fact, our account has been nearly wiped out,' Adrienne Elrod, Sanchez’s chief of staff, told POLITICO on Thursday. Sanchez reported having almost $379,000 in campaign funds at the end of June in her last quarterly filing with the Federal Election Commission," John and I write. "Several of the campaigns for which Durkee served as treasurer have had trouble accessing their accounts at First California Bank because Durkee was the only one with authority to oversee their funds, sources tell POLITICO. ... Durkee is a well-known money maven in California Democratic politics, serving as treasurer for hundreds of federal, state and local campaign committees, including those of Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Reps. Linda Sanchez, Bob Filner, Laura Richardson and Susan Davis, among others. Feinstein’s reelection committee reported having a little more than $5 million in the bank as of June 30. Aides to Feinstein declined to comment on whether any funds are missing from the senator’s campaign fund. Feinstein will be up for reelection in 2012." Durkee has not been accused of taking money from any of the federal accounts. http://politi.co/nmywmq

TOP STORY: THE AMERICAN JOBS ACT -- Come on, you didn't expect an ACTUAL bill to accompany the president to Capitol Hill, did you? That's coming down the road, according to the White House. But there was enough in the president's speech last night to give Congress a good idea of what he's thinking, and it's basically this: Fund schools, highways, a payroll tax cut and other items and we'll slip the bill to the supercommittee. Strong electoral politics, not the best way to get a bill passed. "The president’s message was hard to miss during his speech to a joint session of Congress Thursday night: Pass this jobs bill — and now. The subtle rebuttal from Capitol Hill: For the most part, we’ll take a pass," Elizabet Titus and I write for POLITICO. "[T]he real meat of the $447 billion proposal will see more action on the campaign trail than in the Capitol, setting up Obama’s still-unwritten “American Jobs Act” as the focal point of his argument that it is congressional Republicans, not the administration’s policies, that are hurting the nation’s beleaguered economy. The stakes are obvious for Obama — his re-election is on the line. But they’re just as high for Republican members of Congress who will be on the hook to defend their positions if they stand in his way. ... Republicans say there’s no chance of the whole bill making it to Obama’s desk. 'If it’s all wrapped in one package, that’s not going to see the light of day,' said Rep. Lee Terry (R-Neb.) ... Even some Democrats also said they would wait to see the fine print before signing on. 'I will spend the coming days evaluating at this proposal more closely, and will work hard with my Democratic and Republican colleagues to pass a commonsense agenda that creates jobs, restores confidence and rebuilds our great nation – without adding to our exploding debts and deficits,' Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) said. 'This nation cannot afford to take on one more dollar of debt, and I will not support any plan that adds to our crushing debt.'” http://politi.co/n5sTXK

SUPERCOMMIE RESISTANCE --
Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.): "[T]he president claimed that everything in his bill is paid for, but instead of specifying how he intends to pay for his proposals, he attempted to pass the buck to the Select Committee. The Select Committee has a short period of time to tackle our overspending and deficit problems, and the bulk of the president’s proposals tonight would move us in the wrong direction."
Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio): "Good speeches and more deficit spending won’t get Americans back to work. But unfortunately that’s what we heard tonight – President Obama doubling down on his failed stimulus that pushed the country further into debt while not creating the jobs promised. What’s worse, it appears President Obama is once again abdicating responsibility in paying for his plans, pushing it off on the Deficit Reduction Committee."

Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas): "By asking the Joint Select Committee to increase the $1.5 trillion target to cover the full cost of his plan, the president is essentially tasking a committee designed to reduce the deficit to pay for yet another round of stimulus. Deficit reduction is part of job creation. This proposal would make the already-arduous challenge of finding bipartisan agreement on deficit reduction nearly impossible, removing our options for deficit reduction for a plan that won’t reduce the deficit by one penny. It’s not the role of this committee to spend more money we don’t have on jobs we don’t get.”

SUPERCOMMIE REGIME -- And here's what some of the dozen Democrats had to say:

Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.): “This package will make critical investments in infrastructure that will allow hard-working men and women to rebuild our roads, bridges, and schools, and provide important relief for states so they can keep teachers in the classroom and cops on the beat. It will cut taxes for small businesses to help them hire people and put more money in the pockets of American families. And it does this in a way that does not add a dime to our deficit."

Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.): "Let’s prove the cynics and naysayers wrong and support President Obama’s effort to create jobs in America."

BUT SENATE DEMOCRATIC SUPERCOMMITTEE MEMBERS WEREN'T EXACTLY RUSHING to jump in line behind the idea of finding a way to pay for the president's payroll tax cut, infrastructure bank, school construction and other ideas.

Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.): "[I]t adds to our challenge, we’ll see what he comes up with. We have to see what he comes up with – a a week from Monday. I’m more interested in how we suggest to pay for it all." (h/t) Manu Raju.

ICYMI: THE MESSAGE -- “Pass this bill.” Obama said it (or variations on it) more than a dozen times. National Journal compiled a video of each time he did: http://bit.ly/qy4DZf

INSIDE THE CHAMBER: THE GOP REAX -- They sat quietly during the speech, David Fahrenthold and Rosalind Helderman note in the Washington Post, and none of them called the president a liar. http://wapo.st/oFDf29

WHAT HUDDLE SAW -- Individual House Republicans applauded various parts of the speech: Paul Ryan nodded when the president said Medicare is unsustainable without changes -- perhaps robbing congressional Democrats of their primary campaign theme next year -- before the entire GOP Conference began applauding; Jack Kingston of Georgia liked the payroll tax cut; Nebraskans Jeff Fortenberry and Lee Terry were among those who applauded a line about building infrastructure here instead of in China; and Rep. Steve LaTourette of Ohio took some ribbing from his colleagues when he applauded Obama for taking issue with those who woud limit collective bargaining rights.

WHAT THEY WERE GOING FOR -- The White House will probably like the formulation Mark Landler uses in the lead to his New York Times story: “Mixing politically moderate proposals with a punchy tone.” What they weren’t going for is acknowledgements like this one in the fifth paragraph: “Analysts said that, if passed, the package would likely lift growth somewhat.” http://nyti.ms/pa1onO

HOW IT PLAYED -- The New York Times splashed it across four columns, beneath the headline “Obama Challenges Congress To ‘Pass This Jobs Bill.” The Washington Post goes more subdued, using a two-column headline, “Obama lays out a $447 billion job-creation plan.” In swing states, the Miami Herald went with “Obama: Plan offers ‘Jolt’” and the Denver Post used the banner headline “Punchy pitch for jobs.” http://nyti.ms/pa1onO

WONDER TWIN POWERS, ACTIVATE: SUPERCOMMITTEE, GANG OF TWO DOZEN TRY TO CUT DEFICITS -- While the supercommittee met for the first time yesterday, Peter Wallsten of the Washington Post reports that some of the folks who didn't get invited to the party are forming their own mini-lobby to press the panel to go big, in the parlance of D.C.'s would-be deficit-cutters. "More than two dozen senators from both parties met privately this week to revive hopes of a grand debt-cutting bargain — exploring how to push the newly formed debt “supercommittee” to find far more than its assigned goal of $1.5 trillion in deficit reductions,” Peter Wallsten reports for the Washington Post. “The senators want at least $3 trillion slashed from the deficit over the next decade. In addition, they plan to press the committee to pass a major tax overhaul to lower rates and close special-interest loopholes, as well as changes to entitlement programs such as Medicare, according to several participants.” http://wapo.st/p6Tjsy

WHAT'S NEXT? THE GANG OF 100 -- The logical outcome of all of this is that 100 senators will begin meeting privately. They will call themselves "The Senate." In the interest of comity, they will decide nothing can be done without unanimous consent -- or at least a 60-vote supermajority.

GOOD FRIDAY MORNING, Sept. 9, 2011, and welcome to the Huddle, where we're exhausted, we were surprised to find out that it's been 15 years since someone introduced a bill called "The American Jobs Act," but not as surprised and disgusted as we are to learn from TMZ that Mel Gibson is making a movie about Judah Maccabee, or as surprised as we were to learn that Hugh Grant (51) and former paramour Divine Brown (42) share Sept. 9 as a birthday. It's been 55 years since Elvis first swung his hips on the Ed Sullivan show, Luke Duke (Tom Wopat) is 60 and Adam Sandler is 45.

Please send tips, suggestions, comments, complaints, corrections, legislative text of "The American Jobs Act," and sports scores (like Packers 42, Saints 34 in the NFL opener) to jallen@politico.com. If you don't already, please follow me on Twitter @jonallendc. Fast Break is @JakeSherman, and Robillard is @PoliticoKevin. New followers include, but are not limited to, @senatortomdavis and @margotfriedman. TODAY IN CONGRESS -- The Senate convenes at 9:45 a.m., but there will be no roll call votes today. The House is in at 9 a.m., with one vote series between 11 a.m. and noon, during which there will be a moment of silence for the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States. The business on the floor is a bill authorizing the nation's intelligence programs for fiscal 2012.

SPEAKING OF INTELLIGENCE PROGRAMS, OFFICIALS SAY THERE IS A 'SPECIFIC, CREDIBLE THREAT' OF AN ATTACK ON NEW YORK OR WASHINGTON THIS WEEKEND -- “Just days before the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, U.S. counterterrorism officials were chasing a credible but unconfirmed al-Qaida threat to use a car bomb on bridges or tunnels in New York City or Washington. It was the first 'active plot' timed to coincide with the somber commemoration of the terror group's 9/11 attacks a decade ago that killed nearly 3,000 people,” the Associated Press’ Eileen Sullivan and Kimberly Dozier report. “Counterterrorism officials were investigating the threat throughout the night and into Friday, as police in New York and Washington said they would increase their already stepped-up staffing levels in light of the recent intelligence. Law enforcement officials were pursuing three people who may be traveling to the U.S. or who have recently entered the country, based on the detailed information received by the U.S. intelligence community late Wednesday, officials said. The intelligence suggested that al-Qaida planned to car bomb one of the two cities that were hit 10 years ago.” http://apne.ws/ro8N1T

ISSA V. LICHTBLAU: THE BACKSTORY -- The Washington Post’s Erik Wemple traces the animosity between the House Oversight chair and the New York Times reporter to 1998, when Lichtblau was working for the Los Angeles Times and Issa was running in a Republican senatorial primary. It was then that Lichtblau first reported an anecdote about Issa using a gun to intimidate a business associate: “The image of a corporate thug couldn’t have helped Issa at the polls, where he ended up losing the senatorial primary by a narrow margin. ...In keeping with his resilient nature, the Vista, Calif., resident won a House seat in 2000, arriving in Washington with a long media memory. As Issa worked the capital with his California conservatism, Lichtblau, who moved to the New York Times in 2002, investigated the Bush administration’s response to the events of Sept. 11. Lichtblau and James Risen in late 2005 broke news about the administration’s domestic eavesdropping program -- an investigation that won them the Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting in 2006. At a hearing of the House Judiciary Committee in July 2008, Issa laid bare his level of reverence for Lichtblau’s national security reporting. Before him was then-Attorney General Michael Mukasey. Issa opened his questioning by inviting the country’s top law-enforcement official to give his 'opinion both before and after you were the AG what the effects of organizations like the New York Times, and so on, leaking the most sensitive information have been as to the ability of us to conduct the war on terror and as to potential prosecutions.' Mukasey voiced a reluctance to 'criticize individual newspapers,' at which point Issa interrupted: 'I am not restrained from saying Eric Lichtblau and the other people who leak national secrets, but I understand that you wouldn’t.' Lichtblau was sitting in the hearing room at the time. Late last year, Issa was elected chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform -- the news peg for an exhaustive profile by the New Yorker’s Ryan Lizza. A proper account of Issa’s rise, Lizza decided, entailed rummaging through the congressman’s past. Just as Lichtblau had done years earlier, Lizza looked up Issa’s brother, Bill. Using a public-records database, Lizza got Bill Issa’s phone number and chatted him up. Then came an Issa-Lichtblau moment. 'After I talked to [Bill Issa], [Darrell] Issa called me and accused me of collaborating with Eric,' recalls Lizza. 'He suggested that I must have gotten the phone number from Eric.” Lizza interpreted the turn of events as evidence of a “slightly conspiratorial mind.'" http://wapo.st/oJXUae

'OBAMACARE': ONE CHALLENGE DOWN -- The Wall Street Journal’s Janet Adamy reports on the dismissal of one of the legal challenges to the health care reform: “A federal appeals court in Virginia dismissed two challenges to the 2010 health overhaul Thursday, marking a victory for the Obama administration and supporters of the law. … In a unanimous opinion Thursday, a three-judge panel at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Richmond found that Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli lacked legal standing to bring his challenge. … Mr. Cuccinelli, a Republican, had argued that Virginia had standing because, shortly after President Barack Obama signed the health law, the state's previous governor had signed a law saying the state's residents shouldn't be required to carry health insurance. But the Fourth Circuit judges found that law alone wasn't enough to generate standing for Virginia, and that the state couldn't show it was directly burdened by the insurance requirement. … The same panel, in a 2-1 decision, threw out a case brought by Liberty University of Lynchburg, Va., on a different set of technical grounds.” All three of the judges on the panel were appointed by Democratic presidents. http://on.wsj.com/noZzsw

PATENT PASSAGE -- “Congress gave final approval to an overhaul of the U.S. patent system on Thursday, sending the bill aimed at reducing litigation by improving patent exams to President Barack Obama for his signature into law,” Diane Bartz writes for Reuters. “In a 89-9 bipartisan vote, the Democratic-led Senate passed the measure which had cleared the Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives in June. The legislation would allow the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to set its own fees and to do the hiring and technical upgrades needed to catch up on a backlog of nearly 700,000 patent applications.” http://reut.rs/n8xN2E

CROSSROADS GETS BOLDER -- “American Crossroads and Crossroads GPS have set a new fundraising goal at least twice the $120 million announced earlier this year,” Peter H. Stone reports for iWatch. “To help achieve its new goal, the two groups have been talking to some prominent GOP figures, notably Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour. The former Republican National Committee chairman has agreed to lend his Midas like rolodex to the Crossroads efforts.” http://bit.ly/nRegaz

DEMS IN TROUBLE IN NY-9 -- And their latest screwup -- replacing an ad that accidentally featured 9/11-like imagery -- won’t help matters: “The first version of the spot, posted to YouTube on Thursday, slammed Republican Bob Turner for living the “high life,” as an animation of a corporate jet swooped by. Later in the ad, the jet banks across the screen in front of a lifelike rendering of the New York City skyline,” Joshua Miller reports for Roll Call. “But by Thursday evening, the original version had been pulled from YouTube and replaced with a different version that shows the same jet banking across the screen in front of a sky background.” http://bit.ly/oDrbqh

--Thomas Kaplan of the New York Times reports on yesterday’s race happenings: “The two major-party nominees on Thursday sought to trip each other up at their only widely televised debate, while national Democratic groups bought expensive television time in a last-ditch effort to buoy their candidate. The Democrat, Assemblyman David I. Weprin, and his Republican opponent, Bob Turner, have debated each other almost daily in front of modest audiences in Brooklyn and Queens over the past week. At their televised forum, Mr. Turner urged voters to reject Mr. Weprin to send a message to President Obama that he needed to change his policies on Israel and federal spending, while Mr. Weprin appealed to elderly voters, promising to protect Social Security and Medicare. … Two national Democratic groups have bought more than $500,000 in air time to broadcast their own ads for Mr. Weprin. (The National Republican Congressional Committee was considering whether to broadcast its own ads but had not decided on Thursday.)” http://nyti.ms/reDbhK

--And the Times’ Dan Bilfesky profiles Weprin: “With his Inspector Clouseau mustache, self-effacing personality and liberal political views, Mr. Weprin, 55, seemed an inoffensive and dependable candidate for the Democratic Party to nominate to run for Congress after Representative Anthony D. Weiner quit over a scandal earlier this summer. … Mr. Weprin, an Orthodox Jew, has faced an unlikely revolt among supporters within that religious community, including rabbis who refused to speak to him, because he supported legalizing same-sex marriage. He has also sustained a barrage of attacks by Mr. Turner, a Roman Catholic, who has tried to portray him as being insufficiently critical of Mr. Obama’s stance on Israel. … As for his pro-Israel credentials, Mr. Weprin has in recent days adopted the posture of a Jewish Rambo, saying that he has not only visited Israel eight times, but also has come under rocket attack there twice, including while delivering bulletproof vests near the border with Lebanon in 2006. … Political operatives who worked with him in that race said he had proved to be a sometimes temperamental candidate. They said he would miss scheduled meetings with black and Latino groups, only to be discovered spending time with Orthodox Jewish constituents. While he was very skilled at raising money, they said he was also absent-minded. Mr. Weprin roundly dismissed such criticism, saying he enjoyed mingling with voters; he has danced, however awkwardly, at gay pride parades and has visited mosques and Sikh temples.” http://nyti.ms/nWpans

--The 'Jewish Rambo' is taking himself to Trump Tower to protest the Donald’s endorsement of his opponent, the Daily Caller’s Alexis Levinson reports. http://thedc.com/p4BQvJ

FARENTHOLD SEES SECURITY RISK -- “U.S. Rep. Blake Farenthold on Wednesday witnessed the effects of a perceived security threat while on board a commercial airliner,” Rick Spruill writes for the Corpus Christi Caller. “The first-term congressman and his wife were taken off a Washington, D.C.-bound American Airlines plane at the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport after officials escorted two men off the plane and required all other passengers to undergo additional security screening. Farenthold, a member of the House Committee on Homeland Security, said the men's dress and demeanor raised other passenger's suspicions, including his own. 'They both looked in their mid-20s and both were dressed inappropriately for their build,' he said. 'They were wearing ill-fitting athletic gear but were in no physical shape to be wearing it. It looked like I would look if I were in that sort of clothing.'"

TODAY'S TRIVIA -- Who said the following to Congress? "When you talk with our young men and women, you will find that with the opportunity for employment they want assurance against the evils of all major economic hazards—assurance that will extend from the cradle to the grave. And this great government can and must provide this assurance."

THE NATS' LINE -- The Nats lost one game to the Dodgers, 7-4, and both teams lost the second game of their doubleheader to rain. The Houston Astros are in town tonight -- Strasburg on Sunday -- with Bud Norris on the mound against the Nats' Tom Milone.

THE WEATHER -- From Brian van de Graaff at ABC-7: -- FLASH FLOOD WATCH through later today for Frederick, Mogo, PG, Charles, in Maryland and Loudoun, Fairfax, Arlington, Prince William, Stafford, Spotsy and King George in VA as well as DC. -- FLOOD WARNING (for urban areas and small streams) until mid-morning for Frederick, Mogo, Anne Arundel, PG, Calvert St Marys, Charles in MD and Loudoun, Fairfax, Arlington, Prince William and King George in VA. -- COASTAL FLOOD ADVISORY until 10am for areas along Bay and Tidal Potomac.

Readers' Comments (2)

Remember the FAA jobs bill of 74,000 jobs, 200 companies was held up by the Republicans who wanted to make it harder for FAA employees to unionize. The corrupt GOP, in union elections, want to count non-attendance and non-votes as "no" votes--both unethical and dishonest. Their anti-union, anti-working class bias which would have also cost 1.5 million auto industry jobs and five times that many in auto industry-dependent jobs for partisan political gain.

It should be clear even to the poorly-educated and/or bigoted that Republicans have historically NEVER represented the working class and their real class warfare against the working class has never been more blatant as their TOP PRIORITY has been continued tax cuts, tax breaks, and subsidies for the rich. Any working class American voting Republican hurt themselves, their families, and the rest of us as the GOP shifted wealth to the wealthy with 80% of income increases over the last 20 years going to the top one percent.

The corrupt GOP, in union elections, want to count non-attendance and non-votes as "no" votes--both unethical and dishonest.

And the socialist wanted the non-attendance and non-votes to be counted as "yes" votes both unethical and dishonest.

Allow all union members to participate on casting their votes secretly behind curtained voting booths. That is unheard of in America's labor unions.

Most of your major labor unions leadership are socialist, some even being Marxist. Many unions like the SEIU have a political agendas and union membership is nothing but providing financial funding for their leftist political agenda.

How many union members actually attend union meetings ? How many union members actually vote on union contracts and going on strike ? Maybe if they could vote without the union thugs knowing how they did vote, maybe more union members would participate.

Those union members who are active with in the union are usually those who meet the definition of being a union thug. They are the same union worker on the job who is more concerned with union politics than actually doing the job he's being paid for not doing. In a non-union private sector job he or she would have been fired for being incompetent.

Most union members don't want to be involved in union politics. All they want to do is work and make money so they can keep a roof over their heads and support their families.

Why do unions only represent 7 % of the work force ? Because non union workers are happier workers where as union workers are always *****ing and complain. They can be making twice as much as a non union worker doing the same job, but they are unhappy.